Trying to buy a car - how do people have the nerve!

I am trying to buy a 10 year old 1.4 VW Golf to teach Blueg33 junior to learn to drive in.

I spent 8 hours yesterday driving to see all the cars (4) that are nearish to me (that means with 1 hours drive). Each car was described in the vein of "mint", "well maintained", "excellent condition" along with "first to see will buy", "we only sell quality cars",

Car 2 - Described as good condition, cambelt done. - The facts, cambelt done 4 years ago so needs doing, airbag lights on, paintwork scarted in a radius of 6 inches around door handle and down to the metal, same owner for 8 year, no service history, oil like tar, would't start easily, sunroof not working at all, wiper bladed missing, door seals covered in algae etc etc

Car 3 - Described as excellent example - The facts, very shoddy reapir to front wing with metallic paint missing the lacquer coat, pointless aftermarket induction kit removing the air box and putting a crappy foam airfilter in the engine bay right over the exhaust manifold, every times something electric was switched on the alarm went off, engine had a gnome with a hammer inside, aircon actually worked!, couldnt test drive it as it was in the sellers compound and he would have to move 30 cars to get it out (I had telephoned to make an appointment), seller couldn't believe i didn't want to do the paperwork right away!

There will be one out there, some people arent very discening or are hoping the buyer isnt, some people buy a car and just drive it, not services, wheels black with brake dust, interior like a bin and only MOT it as otherwise they cant tax it and cant drive it without getting a pull, they dont have the wherewithal to change a bulb or pump the tyres up, a ten year old Golf 1.4 is their prime hunting ground as its good on petrol, fairly cheap, reasonably robust and its a Golf innit. A 1.4 isnt on average going to get the tlc of say a GTI or something.

Just keep looking, all you can do, try and spot the good ones on Ebay, well written ad, with lots of pictures, ask some very specific questions about cambelts etc, i.e. the date is was done, and we always need to reign in expectations a little with ten year old cars, but not as much as these sellers wanted you to !

You're buying a USED ten year old car and you're expecting no faults whatsoever

No, he's expecting them to be as described. They were not.

Indeed. Although I suspect the sellers are likely to be misdiscribing through ignorance rather than malice. Also, it's the sort of car (type/age/price/etc) that people are usually selling due to impending failure/MoT/service.

The upside is that there is the potential to buy cheaply and then tart the car up and sell on for a decent price (for a change).

You're buying a USED ten year old car and you're expecting no faults whatsoever

No, he's expecting them to be as described. They were not.

The problem is everyone is lying or bigging up their car so if you are honest and say the car has damaged paint, warning lights on etc then no one will even come out to view it. What to me is excessive damage may be reasonable wear on a 10 year old car, hell in a lot of people's minds that's a car that is one MOT failure away from scrapping especially as it is only a 1.4 basic model.

Many years ago when I was a student, i bought cheap cars like Escorts Mk1's and 2's Toyota Corolla etc, all were over 10 years old, no one messed me about or misled me like these sellers are.

What sort of dealer has the car you have booked to see in a compound where 30 cars have to be moved by 1 guy, so you can take it for a test drive?

I am buying cheap ie under £2k because I see no benefit in buying something expensive for junior to learn in. I don't expect perfection, i expect good honest cars and good honest sellers. I don't care if cambelts need doing, I can sort that, but I dont expect to be told it doesn't need doing when it does, and I expect cars to be serviced or at least have an oil change occasionally